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After a long waiting time, the Simara ACE is finally in service between Helsingborg and Helsingør. ACE in the name is the owner’s initials: Axel Camillo Eitzen. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

The Simara ACE:
The world’s smallest cruise ship
“It is like getting the best Christmas present ever,” says Karin Jul Pedersen, Chief Executive Officer at ACE-Link (the former Sundbusserne), when the first of the two new ships for the Helsingør–Helsingborg service finally arrived at Helsingør.
The waiting time for the first was nearly four years, due to several circumstances.
“All the troubles are almost forgotten and we are ready to take up the new challenge of filling up a much bigger ship” explains Karin Jul Pedersen.

At present ACE-Link has around 1.25 million passengers per year, but the volume is expected to grow to close to two million passengers within a short time.
The first ship was named Simara ACE in her homeport Helsingborg. There has been some confusion about which flag the new ships were going to fly. They were registered in the Danish International Ships Register during building at the Polish shipyard of Stocznia Remontowa of Gdansk, but shortly after arrival at Helsingør, Denmark, the ship switched to the Swedish flag.

The most convenient flag
“It may seem a little confusing to have two flags within such a short time, but there is a very simple explanation for that”, says Karin Jul Pedersen and explains: “Originally the ships were ordered by Ragnar Moltzau for the purpose of flying the Danish flag, but when the company was taken over by Camillo Eitzen a lot of changes were made. One of them was to study which flag was the most convenient for the daily running costs. It ended with the Swedish flag, but in order not to confuse the building process more than it already did, we decided to continue building to Danish standards and re-flag later. It did not cause any problems, as both Denmark and Sweden are quality flags within the EU, so it was just a formality”.

Karin Jul Pedersen, CEO of ACE-Link A/S talks about the new ship as an extra Christmas present for the company.

The vessel sails in a truly inter-Scandinavian set up. The owning company is based at Lysaker in Oslo, the ship flies the Swedish flag and is manned by mainly Swedish crew, while the company’s office is in Hel­singør in Denmark.

Like a small yacht
Even though the Simara ACE is much larger than the existing Sundbuss Magdalone, which has been sold to Göteborg, and the Sundbuss Pernille, she is almost like a small yacht, which has led ACE-Link to market the vessel as the world’s smallest cruise ship. The ship has close to cruise ship standard with purpose-made furniture from Remontowa’s own factory, styled by Danish interior architect Steen Friis Design. The whole ship is designed by the famous Danish designer Knud E. Hansen A/S.

Despite the use of the word cruise ship, the Simara ACE is a very practical vessel. The first signs of that are discovered after a few steps up the gangway on the lower deck. On the right there is a room to serve the passengers’ first needs on board. If you are a commuter – ACE-Link has some 150–200 every morning travelling from Sweden to Denmark – you need a place for your bike. Later during the day, if you are a Swede purchasing beer in Denmark, you need a place for your trolley with several cases of beer for the trip to Helsingborg. The room serves both kinds of passengers as well as lockers for smaller items purchased in Helsingør.

	“It is a very fine new ship that we have got now”, says Birgitta Andersson, onboard manager of Simara ACE. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

On the same deck on the left is the ship’s supermarket, with a café nearby. Selling liquor, beer, chocolate and other items is still a large part of the income on a route like the ACE-Link service. Liquor is sold at Danish prices including VAT, but this is still an attractive price for a Swede. Also cigarettes are sold on board. Not tax-free, but at the attractive Swedish prices, which is interesting for the Danes.

However, the sale of these two items – liquor and cigarettes – is highly technical and is heavily monitored and often surveyed by the customs authorities. So every sale of these items is documented by a timeframe, which can be checked with the GPS positions from the navigation bridge.

The next deck on board the Simara ACE is the restaurant deck. At the fore end is the ship’s pub (Sunrise Pub), where half of the space is still a smoking area.
“We still have regular customers who would be very much offended by a smoking ban”, explains Karin Jul Pedersen. “So until further notice we will allow smoking in this special area, while the rest of the indoor areas are non-smoking areas.”

The front salon of the Simara ACE has a large pub with room for smokers as well as non-smokers. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

In the midship area is a café, and the aft salon Horizon restaurant is a dining area for “slow food”. ACE-Link continues the concept from Sundbusserne called “tura”, which means that passengers buy a return ticket and are allowed to stay on board as long as they like.

“There are no real rules for the concept, but as long as people purchase food and drinks on board it is good for business”, says Karin Jul Pedersen.

The name of the restaurant is chosen with care, as all the public areas have large windows. The passengers have a full sea view even when they are sitting down on chairs and sofas. All the indoor passenger areas are fitted with 42” TV screens, which will be used for information, offers from the shop or in other connections. It could be football games, or even advertising events, where a company invites customers to a road show event. These among other ideas will be part of the future use of the new ships on Øresund.

Further up the vessel is a sun-deck area where beer and ice cream will be on sale in the summer time.

The new ships will accommodate a total of 400 persons on a crossing, including a crew of 25–30 persons. The old vessels accommodate some 249 passengers.

	Simara ACE is diesel electric driven, powered by three Volvo Penta GenSets. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

Diesel-electric
The Simara ACE has diesel-electric propulsion with three GenSets and electric motors driving the two Schottel azimuth propellers, giving the vessel high manoeuvrability. The two thrusters work as rudders as well. There is also a bowthruster. Another interesting feature is the two stabilizers on board.
“We are quite convinced that they will be highly appreciated by our passengers during the winter period,” says Patrick Renken, Technical Operations Manager. “The weather can be rough when a storm sweeps from the Kattegat to Øresund.”
The stabilizers add some three metres on each side to the ship’s beam. On the question of the danger of forgetting these stabilizers on the short crossing, Patrick Renken says:

“We have taken care of the problem in several ways. First of all there is a device that automatically folds the stabilizers back in the hull, if the speed is less than six knots. Furthermore there is a visual and a sonic alarm, when the navigator on the bridge switches from manoeuvring from the centre to the bridge wings, which is usual while approaching the harbour. So we feel that it should be no problem in the daily work.”

The manoeuvre stand in the starboard bridge wing. Photo: Bent Mikkelsen

The closed areas
The bridge is closed from side to side, which has been a feature on the Sundbusserne since the end of the 1960s. In the Simara ACE the bridge is much larger and fitted with more equipment than in the old ships, including electronic seacharts.

There is only one single cabin as it is a day-sailing vessel only. There is also a canteen-like relaxing area for the crew aft of the bridge on the starboard side. Meetings and other gatherings amongst the crew will be conducted in the public areas when the ship is not in service.
//Bent Mikkelsen

Latest update 19-12-2007 10:14

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